The Adventures of Natalie Hill

Monday March 21st, 2011

I spent much of my childhood getting lost in the world of Tintin. Somehow these European comic books had found their way into my library, and subsequently insinuated themselves into my daily life. Recently I decided to revisit the series, and found that in spite of my more mature discomfort with some of the strange politics, I found myself absorbed completely into this world once again. I read them all in a few days.

So I was pleased to see that another fan of the series, WM photographer Natalie Hill, had done a photographic series pointing to the presence of Tintin in the comic’s birthplace, and her home base, Belgium.

Natalie first blogged about this project in conjunction with an assignment for Delta Sky Magazine, for which she won an Ozzie Award. This feature showed a tour of Brussels with Tintin-related sites.

Now Natalie has written an article for the Huffington Post. She writes

…when Belgium does something good, it does it magnificently. Fries were invented here – please don’t call them ‘French’; our neighbors had nothing to do with them…and you’ll still find the best twice (deep) fried fries in the world here. Chocolate, beer and Audrey Hepburn are all Belgian superstars but perhaps the best-loved Belgian character is the boy with the beautiful quiff – Tintin.

With Spielberg and Jackson putting the finishing touches to the new stop-motion animation of The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, now is a great time to discover all things Tintin in Brussels.

Perhaps the most interesting photo Natalie posts is of a Chinese restaurant owner. What does this have to do with Tintin? I’ll let her explain:

A lesser-known connection is to be found in the Chinese restaurant L’orchidée Bleue. The owner Zhang Xue Ren’s father, Zhang Chongren, became one of the key driving forces for turning Tintin into the character we know today. He met Hergé in Brussels and shared his knowledge of Chinese drawing techniques and perhaps more importantly shared with Hergé a ‘real’ view of China and the outside world, which made the comic books more authentic. Zhang Chongren was the inspiration for Tintin’s first real friend, Chang, who appeared in the Blue Lotus and Tintin in Tibet. Zhang Xue Ren first stayed with Hergé when he moved to Belgium and mentioned having met Spielberg here in the early 80′s.

Hergé often lapsed into stereotypes of people outside the West, but he was deeply affected by his friendship with Zhang Chongren, and as a result Tintin in Tibet is one of the most thoughtful and unique entries in the Tintin series.

-Asad